The warming of an Arctic current over the last 30 years has triggered the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from methane hydrate stored in the sediment beneath the seabed.
Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton working in collaboration with researchers from the University of Birmingham, Royal Holloway London and IFM-Geomar in Germany have found that more than 250 plumes of bubbles of methane gas are rising from the seabed of the West Spitsbergen continental margin in the Arctic, in a depth range of 150 to 400 metres.
Methane released from gas hydrate in submarine sediments has been identified in the past as an agent of climate change. The likelihood of methane being released in …

Climate change or global warming is a major issue in today’s world but it only accounts for part of the damage being done to the environment currently. This damage will dramatically change the way the planet is able for provide for its inhabitants especially in the future. As a matter of fact, climate change isn’t actually the problem but a symptom of two far more important problems.
The first problem is the vast amount of the Earth’s natural resources that humans are currently consuming. This is a very large number especially in advancing economic countries. The second problem is that the waste from resource consumption spills into the Earth’s land and atmosphere and pollutes it. When …

Tasmania’s east coast is recording its highest-ever winter water temperatures of more than 13ºC – up to 1.5ºC above normal – due to a strengthening of an ocean current originating north of Australia.
Satellites have given oceanographers an insight into a remarkable phenomenon – a significant extension of the Leeuwin Current curling around the southern tip of Tasmania and reaching as far north as St Helens.
Remote sensing specialists at CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans Flagship have been observing the current in recent days using satellite data, and ocean measurements made near Maria Island on Tasmania’s east coast.
“It’s important for us to monitor these changes in the ocean, as they can have consequences for marine ecosystems, fisheries, aquaculture, …

KIT ‘algae platform’ develops efficient photoreactors and novel cell decomposition methods
In view of the shortage of petrochemical resources and climate change, development of CO2-neutral sustainable fuels is one of the most urgent challenges of our times.
Energy plants like rape or oil palm are being discussed fervently, as they may also be used for food production. Hence, cultivation of microalgae may contribute decisively to tomorrow’s energy supply. For energy production from microalgae, KIT scientists are developing closed photo-bioreactors and novel cell disruption methods.
Microalgae are monocellular, plant-like organisms engaged in photosynthesis and converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into biomass. From this biomass, both potential resources and active substances as well as fuels like biodiesel may be produced. While …

At a time when water supplies are scarce in many areas of the United States, scientists in Minnesota are reporting that production of bioethanol — often regarded as the clean-burning energy source of the future — may consume up to three times more water than previously thought. Their study appeared in ACS’ journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Sangwon Suh and colleagues point out in the study that annual bioethanol production in the U.S. is currently about 9 billion gallons and note that experts expect it to increase in the near future.
The growing demand for bioethanol, particularly corn-based ethanol, has sparked significant concerns among researchers about its impact on water availability. Previous studies estimated that a gallon …

On a 104-degree Friday in July when sunlight bathed The University of Arizona campus, doctoral student Dio Placencia sat before a noisy vacuum chamber in the Chemical Sciences Building trying to advance the renewable energy revolution.
As a member of UA professor Neal R. Armstrong’s research group, Placencia conducts research aimed at creating a thin, flexible organic solar cell that could power a tent or keep a car charged between trips to work and back home again.
He’s passionate about renewable energy and says it’s a waste that so little solar has been incorporated into society. “I have a little flat panel that I walk around with,” Placencia said. “I usually put that on my backpack, and …

As the world’s environment ministers, government officials, diplomats and campaigners prepare to attend the COP15 conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 to unite in the battle against climate change in one of the most complicated political deals the world has ever seen, the increasingly complex territory of climate negotiations is being revealed in an article published today, 5 August, 2009, in IOP Publishing’s Environmental Research Letters.
The paper ‘Tripping Points: Barriers and Bargaining Chips on the Road to Copenhagen’ lays bare the main tripping points – political barriers and bargaining chips – which need to be overcome for countries to reach a consensus on how to address global climate change.
One of the key issues delegates will …